Susan the Gentle Queen
by liuli-xia
Summary: Secrets are like shadows, dogging your every step and following your every move. Everyone knows that you have them; it's just a matter of figuring out what they are. That was how she lived her life, dancing through shadows to conceal her own.


So this is and HP/Narnia Crossover. Just to clarify, Susan and McGonagall are the same person. I tried to stay as close to both canons as possible. So Voldemort is still evil, Dumbledore still dies, Harry still saves the day, Susan remains a bit estranged from her family, her siblings still die.

**Disclaimer: **No I don't own either one. Very sad.

_Blah= Narnia references_

_**Blah= mix of both worlds**_

Blah= normal/wizarding world

_Susan the Gentle Queen_

Secrets are like shadows, dogging your every step and following your every move. Everyone knows that you have them; it's just a matter of figuring out what they are. But for some, concealing these secrets _that really have no place in __**this**__ world at all_ has become an art form. They walk in the shadows of greater secrets where a slightly darker patch of shadow mimics their movements, yet not noticeable enough to warrant unwanted suspicion _because how could they honestly answer all the questions without disastrous consequences._

That was how she lived her life, dancing through shadows to conceal her own. By far it was the safest thing for the Gentle to do but hardly the easiest _yet she was used to making such hard decisions when she was older than she was today just a year ago now_. So used to the openness was she that oftentimes, she would find herself nearly leaping into the light and giving herself away in a casual conversation. She would barely manage to salvage the conversation before the other person got curious.

Living in the real world_, away from deceptive winters and sacrificial lions that never really died,_ was monotonous. Many times she wished that _**The Call**_ would sound through the universes and call her back to home. The mundane was not her style for all her book-smarts and her intellectual nature. Magic was tangible and she thrived on it; it was a part of her that she could never deny since that one misadventure _turned-to-adventure-and-fantasy that she'd always wanted._ She found herself calling _**His Name**_ out loud, trying to find him in the horribly deprived world that had given her a life _because His world gave her and her brothers and sister true Life that forever coursed through them and would forever call to them._

Hazel eyes and pale skin with rose-pink lips swam before her eyes though no tears had wet them _because_ _she wanted to see how Gentle she still was but here the mirrors would not obey_ and she looked away to the window. Bright colors danced across the sky and the fields below _but she had seen brighter, better, further up and further in _and seemed to be inviting her to go out into the light. Instead, she ran down the tower steps into a private room of books upon books with only candles, no windows, to draw her out _since the light still scared her because you can't have a secret hidden in the brightness of it all_.

So when she receives a letter one day from an unknown person _because those she knew had passed on before her, were waiting for her_ she is surprised and cautious. Unless her brothers and sister had given their secrets to another or had lovers and families _of which she would have known because she had always, somehow, known little things like that_ her existence should have been a secret. Her shadow was just a smidgen lighter than before.

She smiles a little smile _because she can't smile like she used to_ as she meets the strange man in a castle _but it's not Cair Paravel because where are the cliffs?_ and they talk of many strange things. He asks about how she knows magic and a frown settles on her lips _no one would understand how she came to magic_ and she shakes her head. Another story _from another time_ saved for a day that she thinks _is __almost certain_ will never come. Her eyes are drawn to the symbol of the Houses and sees _Aslan, home_ the lion _as a distant roar __**calls her **__and she knows_ then tells the man she agrees as long as she is head of the lion house _because it is as close to home as the Gentle can get_.

Soon she has a wand as black as night _because the white is evil, evil, evil_ and the man does not understand _but he can't because the white witch isn't – wasn't, won't – ever here_. She is a natural with animals and she could have taught about the magical creature _but they don't recognize the Gentle yet so they do not listen yet_ so she teaches Transfiguration and sometimes with the defensive class _for she is a natural at protecting in battle, as all queens then should have been – should be._

She studies shape-shifting _it calls to the lion, tiger, cat whichever she may be inside of her_ and decides she will become one of them. A lion and tiger are unusual so she makes herself into a cat _to be as close to her Aslan as she can_ which surprises the man but she does not care.

Years pass by and she knows the students suspect she is_ too regal, too Gentle_ too strange to be a normal witch but she brushes them away _hides her shadows better_. She needs to be more careful _since secrets are power_ and one student has a red gleam in his eye _like the cruel white gleam that is the stuff of nightmares_ but she refuses to cower like others _because she defeated armies before_ since he is just one. Still careful, she watches him like a hawk _and wasn't that how politics are played in her older days_ so she evens out the playing field ever so carefully and plays the game _she played so much in the days of yesteryear_ with a politician's smile.

More years and he is the enemy _the Just and the High were so good at knowing who they were_ like she had predicted and warned. She subtly guards the boy he is after and knows that war is not behind _because she can play these games so well._ The time is drawing closer and the boy's fate is already sealed so she _knows it is the beginning of her time_ goes to the forest on the grounds.

The creatures follow her from the tree-shadows with burning, longing eyes _because the Gentle is there more than the first time_ and she calls them out _like the High had done twice before for battle _and they come to her, submissive. Three years to prepare yet no one else knows _but the Gentle and her people do _so they make plans and weapons. They practice their fighting _and she is still so limber and her youth hides under the surface._ She returns to the castle and none cares to notice _just how light her shadow is_ how less tense she is.

Two years pass and it is a small battle _they lost the battle but not – Never – the war_ because they were just unprepared but won't be again _because she is almost as Gentle as she used to be_. Soon the students know she is some form of royalty _since she carries herself like she used to when she was older _and they know to follow her orders. She trains with her bow and arrow, not her wand _because they are familiar to her, they sing to her_. The time is coming at the end of the year and they will be ready _like she, the Valiant, the High, and the Just had been once upon a lifetime ago._

The final battle has come and she is fierce _as Aslan and as Gentle than ever before_ as a lioness. She puts on her battle armor _that used to fit and now suddenly do, as a gift_ and she sweeps through the castle like a queen _like the Gentle Queen she always has been._

Friend and foe fear her _for lions roar from her bow and creatures answer her Call. _In her battle armor, she is suddenly young _like she had been twice before now_ and the enemies are scared _because she is not a witch but a warrior-queen with creatures at her command._

They are victorious _and she is Gentle now_ and she smiles at a young woman on the battlefield _that reminds her of so many others and her families. _Then she senses a change as there are frightened shrieks _but she smiles because she knows_ at the lion _Aslan_ walking towards her. The wizards and witches _who are not white_ are puzzled when she kneels_ but he is speaking to her as Emperor to Queen. _She hugs the lion _now she can return home_ and walks with him as the forest creatures give her a royal salute _exactly like those of her yesteryear_.

She walks away into nothingness _into the Wood she knows so very well_ as the lion _ASLAN _roars and Susan-Minerva melts away _and the Gentle stands in her place in Aslan's Land._

_The Gentle was _home _at last._

**A/N: The Sequel is called "Lucy the Valiant Queen"**


End file.
